Accompaniment-player for musical instruments



(No Model.)

R. W. LYLE.

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PANIMENT PLAYER.

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AGGGMPANIMBNT PLAYER FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. No. 529,928. Patented Nov.27,1894.

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ROBERT WYLIE LYLE, OF WOODBRIDGE, NEW JERSEY.'

ACCOMPANIMENT-PLAYhER FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 529,928, dated November27, 1894. Application flied January 8,1894. serai No. 496,218. er@moda.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT WYLIE LYLE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Woodbridge, in the State of New Jersey, have invented acertain new, useful, and valuable Improvement in Accompaniment-Playersfor Musical Instruments, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

My present invention relates to improvementsin accompanimentplayers orcharts and my invention has forits object to provide such a simple,comprehensive and inexpensive device whereby novices may be enabled toplay their own accompaniments,as to commend itself to general use,especially by those who have never had the advantage of a musicaleducation and by amateur musicians. It will also prove of inestimablevalue to the students of music and of great aid to music teachers.

It is a further object of my invention to construct a chart in two partsor sections which are flexibly connected together at their inner endsand adapted to be folded one upon the other, so that the characters forone hand only,

1 will be exposed to View at a time, whereby the player or user canpractice the chords or notes of one hand without being confused byhaving those of the other hand before him.

Referringto the accompanying drawings- Figure lis a perspective view ofa piano with my accompaniment player attached or applied thereto. Fig. 2is a plan view of one form of my chart in which the index characters arepreferably colored. Fig. 3 is another form of my attachment showing themanner of hinging it and the manner of arranging two accompaniments oneach face of the chart. Fig. 4 is another modiiicat-ion of my chartshowing the index characters arranged in both vertical and horizontalalignment. Fig, 5 shows the manner of hinging several charts togetherlatorally.

Each chart is ruled or spaced off vertically, and in the form shown atFig. 4., I have also laid off horizontal spaces or rules and entitledthem respectively, lfirst chord, second chord and third'chord. In theforms shown at Figs. 2 and 3, however, the spaces indicating each keyare laid oft' vertically only, and the keys to be played as the firstchord are all of one color,tl1ose to be struck as the second chord areanother color, and those for the third chord still another color. thuspresenting to the eye at a glance the keys which are to be struck forthe respective chords.

I greatly prefer to employ a notched chart andv also to make it in twosections which are flexibly connected at their inner adjacent ends asshown at Figs. 3 and 4.

The advantages obtained by making the chart of two sections flexiblyconnected togetherare that such sections can be folded one upon theother when thc chart is not in use; andalso when it is desired todisplay merely the accompaniment for one hand; that is, as all of theindex characters referring to keys to be played with the left hand arearranged on one section of the chart and those relating to keys to beplayed with the right hand are arranged on the other section, when it isdesired to display only that portion of an accompaniment that is to beplayed with the left hand, the right hand section is folded against therear face of the other section and the notches in the two sections alignand receive the upper keys at one side of the middle ot' the key boardof the instrument; and the chart is supported in the same manner as whenextended its full length, t'. e. by supports clamped to two of the upperkeys of the instrument.

Taking the form of chart shown at Fig. 3 as an example, it would be usedsubstantially as follows: Supposing that it is desired to play theaccompaniment to a piece written in the key of Ab, then after selectingthe chart having that key upon it, set the notched edge A of the chartAupon the rear ends ot' the keys B and slide it along until it drops downover the keys, which it will not do until it is in exactly the rightposition, thus preventing the possibility of an error. After doing thisattach the clamps C C to keys at either end of the chart and allow thelatter to rest in the supports C', as shown, and thus preventing it frombeing shoved back or jarred over by the movement of the keys or hands.Now then,

press all keys indicated by red for iirst chord, all keys indicated byyellow for second chord and all keys indicated by blue for third chord.

In order to show which fingers to use each colored section is marked inaccordance with the followingz-X indicates thumb; 1, first finger; 2,second finger; 3, third iinger; 4, fourth or little finger; and to showwhich hand to use each colored section is also marked L. H. to indicatethat left hand is to be used, and R. II. for right hand.

In using a chart marked as shown in Fig. 4, the keys in verticalalignment with the upper row of horizontal index characters are struckto sound the iirst chord, those in vertical alignment witli the nextlower row of horizontally extending characters to sound the second chordand those in vertical alignment with the third lowest row of saidcharacters to sound the third chord.

The forni of chart shown at Fig. 2 is intended to be set between theback of the keys and the case I) of the instrument.

When not in use the forms of charts shown at Figs. 3, 4, and 5 may befolded up so as to occupy but little space.

I prefer to make the charts of cardboard, printing them on both sidesand by arranging an accompaniment upon each edge as shown at Figs. 3 and4, four accoinpaninients can be arranged conveniently upon each chart. Ialso find it of great service to arrange a bar of music F, as shown atFigs. 3 and 4 in the same key and accompaniment as the accompanimentbelow it as indicated by the index sections.

Instead of employing supports which clamp the keys as shown, I maychoose to use notched pieces of wood to set loosely over the keys of theinstrument and having wires extending upward to support the chart.

In fact many other modifications or changes can be made without avoidingthe spirit ot' my invention.

` By notching each of the longitudinal edges of the chart I amenabled,as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, to arrange indexes fortwo accompaniinents on each face of the chart or four acconipaniments oneach chart. When it is desired to change from the accompaniment beingused to a different one it is only necessary to reverse the relativepositions of the upper and lower edges of the chart or the facesthereof.

I. A musical chart composed of sections hinged together and adapted tobe `folded back upon one another, said sections having notches on theirupper and lower edges to Fit ovei' the upper keys of a piano or organand having, adjacent to said notches suitable index charactersindicating the keys to be struck, the characters to be played by theright and left hands being on dilerent sections, the notches in onesection when the sections are folded, registering with the other sectionor sections, substantially as described.

2. A musical chart composed ol' sections hinged together and adapted tobe folded back upon one another in both a horizontal and a verticaldirection, and provided with characters indicating the keys to be struckby both hands, the characters to be played by the two hands beingarranged upon separate sections, substantially as described.

In testimony whereofI ailix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT WYLIE L'YLE.

Witnesses:

G. HowLETr Davis, II. V. WINNE.

